IO2012

Google Drive has not been official for all that long, but Google is hoping to extend its reach with the new version of the SDK for the application that is tooled just for developers of mobile apps. The new set of APIs will allow applications a lot of new features that developers can integrate to use Google’s cloud storage service.

Using a secure Drive API, users will be able to open, edit and save documents to Drive through applications. There’s even an “open with” feature where you get to choose what application you open a Drive document on. There are more changes than that hidden under the hood of this SDK update, and developers should be using them on your favorite apps pretty soon.

Now that day 1 of Google I/O has just about wrapped, we would love to hear your thoughts on everything that you saw. What blew you away today? Was it Jelly Bean? The Nexus 7 tablet? Maybe even the drone-line Nexus Q? Will anything ever top the Project Glass demo that Sergey Brin, skydivers, biker riders, and wall scaling maniacs put on? There was a lot to take in, hopefully you were able to follow along during our coverage.

Android 4.1, Jelly Bean, is now official and will become available in July. The first devices to receive it will be the Galaxy Nexus, Nexus S, and XOOM, if you aren’t counting the Nexus 7 (our hands-on) which is already running it. After announcing it today at Google I/O, the Android team has posted the platform highlights, so that we can get a refresher of all of the new features. (more…)

If you watched the Google I/O keynote from today, then you were probably as blown away as we were with their new Voice Search and Google Now offerings. The Voice Search now responds back to you, provides you with cards that have direct results for what you were looking for, and eventually learns your search patterns so that current and relevant information is always ready.

After spending a few minutes with it, we can easily say that we are impressed. It returned exactly what we were looking for, with the majority of searches coming via cards that are visually appealing. As this new Google Now and Voice Search continues to grow, this may be very useful. Unfortunately for most, this is a Jelly Bean feature that you may not see for a while. (more…)

After confirming that the Nexus 7 is officially real and that another device called the Nexus Q is on the way, we noticed one other note from the Google Play addendum that we received. It mentions the following:

You understand that the Nexus Q currently supports only Google Play Music; Google Play Movies and TV; and YouTube, and that your use of those services is subject to the Google Play Terms of Service.

See anything new in that statement? “Google Play Movies and TV.” Currently, the Play store doesn’t sell or rent TV shows, but according to this addendum, they will shortly. The I/O day 1 keynote starts in just under an hour – we wouldn’t be surprised if TV shows are announced.

A reader of ours was poking around the Google Play store this morning and stumbled onto an addendum that lists out some details for two yet-to-be-announced devices from Google, the Nexus 7 tablet and a new device that appears to be some sort of a media center called the Nexus Q. According to the info we have pasted below, the Nexus Q sounds like a media center or player that you can run your phone, tablet, TV or home entertainment system through. It has access to Play Music, Play Movies, and YouTube. It doesn’t necessarily sound like a new Google TV product, but more of a sharing hub. (more…)

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